VietinBank and Manulife announce exclusive 16-year bancassurance partnership HANOI, Vietnam , Dec. 14, 2020 |CNW| -- Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade ( "VietinBank" ) and Manulife Financial Corporation ( "Manulife" ) are pleased to announce that an agreement has been signed between VietinBank and Manulife ( Vietnam ) Limited ( "Manulife Vietnam" ) to establish an exclusive 16-year bancassurance partnership to better meet the growing financial and insurance needs of the Vietnamese people. Manulife Vietnam will be the exclusive provider of bancassurance solutions to VietinBank customers in Vietnam soon after regulatory approval is obtained. This partnership will help to grow and further protect the health and wealth of Vietnamese individuals, families and businesses by offering best-in-class insurance, wealth and retirement solutions. As part of the transaction, Manulife Financial Asia Limited will also acquire Aviva Vietnam Limited ( "Aviva Vietnam" ). The acquisition of Aviva Vietnam will be subject to regulatory approvals. Manulife expects the partnership to be accretive to diluted core earnings per common share[1] in 2022 and the impact on the LICAT ratio is expected to be less than 1%.[2] Manulife Vietnam is currently Vietnam's number one life insurer by 2019 annual premium equivalent (APE) sales.[3] Having entered Vietnam in 1999 as the first foreign-owned insurer to be granted a license, it now has around 1,000 permanent staff and over 50,000 contracted agents, serving more than one million customers.